


I Won't Ever Let You Go

by whatstheproblembaby



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 20:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12516044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatstheproblembaby/pseuds/whatstheproblembaby
Summary: Archie just wants to keep Kevin from cruising. Canon divergent from 2x03.Title from Ed Sheeran's "Photograph."





	I Won't Ever Let You Go

**Author's Note:**

> All recognizable dialogue belongs to the Riverdale writers!

“Don’t be sorry,” Archie says, pulling Ethel into a hug they both need. As he squeezes her shoulders, he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket. “Oh-”

“No, take it,” Ethel says, stepping back and wiping her eyes. “It could be someone else who needs your help.”

Archie smiles at her before reaching down to pull his phone out of his jeans. Betty’s name flashes up from his notifications, and he almost drops his phone in his haste to unlock it and read the message.

_Arch you’ve gotta get to Fox Forest ASAP. Kev’s in there alone._

“We’ve gotta go,” Archie says, shoving his phone back in his pocket so hard he’s surprised the material doesn’t tear. “C’mon, Ethel. I’ll have Reg drop you off after he takes me to Fox Forest.”

He takes off at a run toward Reggie’s car, Ethel close behind him. When Reggie sees where they’re going, he falls in beside them without Archie having to say a word.

“Where to?” Reggie asks once they’ve all gotten in.

“Betty told me to get to Fox Forest now,” Archie says. “You can just drop me off - she can back me up while you get Ethel home.”

Reggie just nods, already speeding down the road. The ride goes quickly and quietly, none of them really in the mood for small talk when the danger of the evening hasn’t quite passed.

“Thanks,” Archie says when Reg skids to a stop by the trailhead. He can see Betty - and for some reason, Cheryl - off to the right “Drive safe.”

“Bye, Arch,” Ethel calls from the backseat, one hand raised in a wave.

Archie waves back to her before turning to Betty. “Do you know where Kevin went?”

“I used Find My Friend to track him,” she says, waving her phone once. “He’s not too far in, but still - that psycho could be anywhere.”

“We’ll find him, Bets,” Archie says. “And - Cheryl?”

“It’s thanks to me that the hag even knows he’s in there,” Cheryl says, cocking a hip. “I’m coming with you.”

“Okay,” Archie says quickly, not wanting to start an argument he knows he’d lose. “Let’s go.”

He pulls his phone out again to turn the flash on as they get deeper into the trees and need more light. The fear of the Hood tracking them by the beams is present in his mind, but the importance of finding Kevin outweighs his nerves. Still, Archie worries that he won’t be able to get both Betty and Cheryl safely out of the woods if they get caught.

 _Of course, Cheryl probably doesn’t need me to defend her from that guy,_ he thinks, smirking to himself as they round a corner and see-

“Kevin!” Betty shouts, sounding relieved. “Oh thank God, I thought-”

“What are you doing here?” Kevin interrupts, the look on his face changing from fright to anger in a millisecond.

“Kevin, you’re in Fox Forest with a killer on the loose,” Betty says incredulously. “We had to come after you to make sure you were okay! I know you think cruising is the only way, but Kev, you’ve gotta respect yourself more than this.”

“Respect myself?” Kevin repeats, so vicious that Archie finds himself flinching. “Betty, you live in this pale pink world of milkshakes, and first kisses, and ‘am I gonna date Archie or Jughead?’”

“Except for when she’s dark Betty,” Cheryl says, waving her flashlight.

“Right, right, right! Except for when you’re exploring your BDSM sexuality, which, again, you’re allowed to do, but I’m not, because why?”

Part of Archie is screaming at him to go shelter Betty from Kevin’s tirade, to protect her like he always has, but the biggest part is riveted by what Kevin’s revealing. He had no idea - but how could he?

“This is what I’ve got, Betty! Me! These woods! So please, don’t come here and tell me it’s disgusting. If you can’t accept what I do, whatever it is I do, well then - we’re not really friends.”

Kevin seems to deflate as he finishes, hanging his head. Betty just stares at him for a moment before running off, Cheryl following hot on her heels. Archie spares a moment to hope Cheryl doesn’t just dump salt in Betty’s wounds, but then he turns to Kevin.

“Is that - is that really how it feels? To be gay in Riverdale?” he asks softly.

Kevin looks up, surprise evident on his face.

“Yes,” he responds after a beat. “At least it is for me. But then again, how would I know how it feels for anyone else?”

He laughs bitterly, the sound making something in Archie’s heart twist. There’s silence for a moment as Archie tries to figure out something - anything - to say to make this better.

“You don’t have to stay,” Kevin says. “I know you probably want to make sure Betty is okay.”

“No,” Archie says decisively, stunning Kevin as well as himself. “No, Kevin, I can’t leave you in the forest. Or feeling like you can’t have what every other kid in this town can when they want romance. Kiss me.”

“What?!” Kevin says - squawks, really.

“Kiss me,” Archie repeats, looking Kevin dead in the eye. “I can’t let you go cruising, but I can’t let you keep feeling so - so alone, Kev. So kiss me.”

“Archie, last I checked, you were straight.”

“So? I don’t care if you don’t,” Archie says, stubbornly jutting his chin. “Or do you think you can’t handle me?”

“Oh my God,” Kevin says exasperatedly. “Fine. Fine! This isn’t even the weirdest thing that’s happened in this whacko town anyways.”

He stalks forward, and Archie’s heart starts to race. Kevin looks so _determined_ , and if Archie’s being honest with himself, it’s kind of hot.

Then their lips connect, and Archie can’t think at all. Kevin doesn’t kiss like any of the girls Archie’s been with before - this is rougher, more unrestrained. He’s not afraid of accidentally hurting Kevin like he is with Veronica, because he can feel Kevin’s muscles under his hands - wait, when did he move his arms up Kevin’s body? - and they’re just as strong as his own.

Kevin breaks apart too soon for Archie’s liking. He flips them around so Kevin’s pressed up against the tree that was near Archie’s back and dives back in, swallowing the moan Kevin makes with a smile.

“Fuck me,” Kevin breathes when Archie finally pulls back.

“Better than cruising?” Archie rasps, throat drying up as he looks Kevin up and down.

“You could say that.”

“Then don’t cruise anymore,” Archie says. “If you feel lonely and need someone to be there for you - come to me.”

“What? But Veronica-”

“She’ll understand,” Archie says. “I’ll explain it to her. It’ll be fine.”

 _At least, it had better be fine,_ he thinks. All he knows is that he just had one of the best kisses of his life, and he doesn’t want to let that feeling go, selfish as it may be.

“Okay. Let’s be friends with benefits, Archie Andrews,” Kevin says, smirking at Archie in a way that makes his heart stutter.

“Redefining the bromance,” Archie fires back, feeling absurdly pleased when Kevin laughs at his mediocre joke.

______________

Months pass, and Archie begins to care more about his hookup sessions with Kevin than he cares to admit.

 _Well, they’re not_ just _hookups, though,_ he thinks, staring at the ceiling above his bed as Jughead plays a videogame from his beanbag on the floor.

“I can hear you thinking,” Jug says, tearing his gaze away from the screen momentarily to stare at Archie pointedly. “Spill.”

“I just...how did you know you loved Betty?” Archie asks.

Jug pauses the game, turning to Archie with wide, surprised eyes.

“Like, when did you realize that you really liked _her_ , and not just how you felt when you were around her?” Archie continues, knowing Jug won’t let him drop the question now.

“I’m not sure,” Jughead says after a moment, moving his hand up to his chin to rub it. “It wasn’t really one moment for me - it was a lot. Whenever she defends me to her mom. Whenever I see her get determined to report something for the _Blue & Gold_. I can just be watching her from across a room and love her, you know? She doesn’t have to be focused on me for me to care about her.”

Archie takes all of this in, breathing slow and deep.

“So you love Veronica?” Jug asks after a moment, catching Archie off-guard.

“Wh- no. No,” he says. When he realizes what he just answered, he wishes he had a rewind button for life.

“No?” Jughead repeats, pushing himself up to look Archie directly in the eyes. “Say that again so it makes sense.”

“It’s not Veronica,” Archie says slowly, bracing himself to finally say something he’s suspected for a while. “It’s Kevin.”

“Kevin?!”

“You know we’ve had that arrangement for a while now,” Archie says, feeling defensive. “But we don’t just do physical stuff when we meet up. We’ve gone for shakes at Pop’s, and runs through town. We talk before we start making out at one of our houses. I’ve shared stuff with him that even Ronnie doesn’t know about me.”

Jughead is silent, but he doesn’t look horrified, so Archie continues.

“And Jug...I like how it feels to be with him. We haven’t gone past making out, but it feels good. Not necessarily better than kissing Ronnie or Val, but I like it more. I like how it feels when he’s on top of me-”

“Nope!” Jug says, holding up a hand. “I don’t need to hear about your sexual urges, Archie. And I would say the same thing if you were talking about Veronica. It’s not a gay thing.”

“No, I understand,” Archie says, knowing he’d feel the same way if Jughead was telling him graphic details about Betty. “Sorry, didn’t mean to go that far.”

“No, it’s fine,” Jughead says. He’s quiet for a moment before saying, “You know, it makes sense. I never really expected it, but I’m not surprised, either.”

“What?”

“You’re both athletes, you’re two of Betty’s best friends, you’re both genuinely good people. If I wasn’t so heteronormative, I would’ve seen this coming from a mile off,” Jughead says. “I only have one question.”

Archie waits.

“What are you gonna tell Veronica?”

“Fuck.”

________________

Somehow the conversation with Veronica goes better than Archie expected. It’s not completely easy - he does _like_ her, after all, though only as a friend, and he doesn’t want to hurt her - but she takes it graciously, saying she’d been wanting to focus on her relationship with her dad and her new responsibilities with Lodge Industries anyways.

Which leaves Archie waiting for Kevin to get out of Spanish, one foot tapping anxiously on the tiled floor of Riverdale High.

“Arch-”

“C’mon,” Archie says, dragging Kevin off to an empty classroom.

“What - Archie, what are you doing?” Kevin asks. He straightens his shirt when Archie releases him.

“I broke up with Veronica,” Archie says.

“Are you okay?” Kevin says, eyes softening. “Can I do something? Also - and don’t tell me if you’re not comfortable - but also, why?”

“I have feelings for someone else,” Archie says, swallowing hard.

“Oh, wh-”

“I have feelings for you.”

Kevin looks like Archie just hit him over the head with a lacrosse stick.

“And it’s okay if you don’t! I don’t expect anything, because this was intended to just be a way to keep you from cruising, but I can’t live a lie, Kevin. I didn’t want to string Veronica along, so I ended it.”

There is silence as Archie pauses to breathe and Kevin is left to gape wordlessly.

“Oh God, you don’t like me like that. I’ll just leave, it’s fine, I under- _mmph!_ ”

Archie’s sentence gets swallowed up as Kevin yanks him in for a passionate kiss.

“Archie, I’ve had feelings for you for _months_ ,” Kevin says once he releases Archie. “I wasn’t going to tell you, because you’re _straight_ and also in a relationship, but how could I not start crushing on you? I’ve never been closer to anyone in my entire life, and it doesn’t hurt that you’re the best kisser I’ve ever met.”

“Clearly I’m not as straight as you thought,” Archie says. He laughs when Kevin growls in frustration. “But that’s not the point.”

Archie pulls Kevin in for another kiss, slower and slightly gentler than the one before. He wraps his arms around Kevin’s shoulders, feeling like they could never be close enough to satisfy him. When Kevin’s arms go around his waist in return, he practically melts.

“So you’ll be my prom date?” he asks once they finally, unfortunately have to come up for air.

“You’re ridiculous,” Kevin laughs. “But yes. Yes, Archie Andrews, I will go with you to prom.”

__________________

Archie walks down the halls of Riverdale High in a daze, focused on running plays in his mind for the big game that evening. He knows he’s been distracted since Kevin agreed to be with him a couple weeks ago, but he can’t let the other Bulldogs down.

“Hey, Arch!” Kevin calls from the other side of the hall, waving.

“Hey,” Archie says with a smile, always happy to see his boyfriend.

He keeps walking for a moment, not taking in Kevin’s outfit til he’s almost past him. When he does realize what Kevin’s wearing, he nearly breaks his neck whipping back around to look again.

Kevin’s wearing _his jersey_.

“Archie!” Betty says as he walks over, smiling in greeting from next to Kevin. “Oh - bye, Archie! Bye, Kev!”

“Archie, where are we go- _mmph._ ”

Archie pushes Kevin into the nearest janitor’s closet and kisses him ferociously, cutting off the end of Kevin’s question.

“You’re in my jersey,” Archie says when he can bring himself to pull away, running his eyes up and down Kevin’s torso in the ambient light from the cracks in the door. “Where did you even get my jersey?”

“Cheryl,” Kevin gulps once Archie frees his mouth again. “She heard me telling Betty I wanted to do something to support you for the game tonight, so she ambushed me after lunch the other day and broke into your gym locker for me.”

“That’s weirdly sweet of her,” Archie says.

“Weirdly sweet is the only kind of sweet she knows how to be.”

“Fair point.”

They don’t make it to their next classes. Neither of them cares.

____________

Archie huddles in his zip-up sweatshirt in the gym, waiting for Kevin’s wrestling match to start.

“Are you sure this isn’t distracting?” he asks Betty, who’s eating nachos next to him in the bleachers.

“No! Archie, it’s adorable,” she says, putting down a chip so she can talk clearly. “And it’s not like you can steal his singlet to show your support.”

“I just - I’m not used to being the one on the sidelines, I guess,” Archie says, stealing a nacho and laughing when Betty tries to slap him away. “It’s new to me.”

“Newsflash, Arch: your boyfriend is a big deal, too,” Betty says with a laugh. “Get used to cheering on your star wrestler from the stands.”

They chat more as they wait for the wrestling teams to take the sidelines, cheering when they see Kevin enter from the locker room.

“Remember, wait until his match,” Betty says.

“I know, I know,” Archie replies, tugging at his zipper awkwardly.

The first few matches seem to happen rapidly, with Riverdale and Greendale alternating wins. Finally, they announce Kevin’s weight class and his match.

Betty jumps up and starts cheering, the high pitch of her voice drawing Kevin’s attention toward the sidelines. Archie yells too before unzipping his sweatshirt to reveal the “Team Kevin” shirt he’d made (with Betty’s assistance) the night before.

Kevin’s jaw drops. His shock draws attention to them from the other spectators, prompting the Riverdale spectators to holler with appreciation and some of the Greendale fans to boo.

“Go Kevin!” Archie shouts, clapping his hands.

Kevin shakes off his awe as he turns to his opponent, spine straightening. Archie is proud of how easily he focuses on the match - whenever he saw Kevin wearing his jersey in the stands, he got tackled before he even knew what was happening.

The bout lasts longer than some of the others, Kevin and his opponent being a fairly even match. Still, Kevin manages to pin the other guy in the last seconds of the match, making Archie cheer so loud he’s afraid he’ll snap a vocal cord.

“That’s my boyfriend! The best wrestler at Riverdale High!”

Kevin reminds Archie later that night that he’s also the best kisser at Riverdale High.

___________________

“This isn’t going to be a _Carrie_ situation, right?” Kevin whispers.

Archie wraps an arm around his boyfriend’s waist, keeping his eyes trained on the stage where Principal Wetherbee is about to announce this year’s Prom King and Queen. “No, babe. Jughead and Betty probably have us beat for everyone’s favorite couple, but I don’t think we’d get elected as a prank. Not after what Cheryl and Ronnie did to those basketball players who tried to harass us last month.”

“Not ever,” Ronnie interjects from Archie’s other side. “We’ve got your backs, boys.”

Kevin relaxes into Archie’s side, putting an arm over his shoulders. “Did I ever thank you for that?”

“Probably, but I’ll never get tired of being appreciated,” Cheryl says.

“Thank you, Cheryl,” Archie says, unable to keep from smiling when Cheryl beams happily at him in response. “You too, Ronnie.”

Veronica just smiles at him for a moment before dropping her head onto Cheryl’s shoulder.

“And now, it’s time to announce this year’s Prom King and Queen!” Wetherbee announces, gaining the attention of the room. “Everyone give a warm Bulldog welcome to-” he pauses to rip open the envelope “-Oh.”

“Oh?” comes an echo from around the gym.

“I have to amend this announcement slightly,” Wetherbee says, smiling. “This year’s Prom _Kings_ are Archie Andrews and Kevin Keller!”

Neither Archie nor Kevin moves, stunned. Betty and Veronica have to shove them towards the stage.

“Congratulations, boys,” Wetherbee says as he places one crown on Archie’s head and the other on Kevin’s. “I can’t think of a better couple to be wearing these crowns.”

Kevin leads Archie onto the dance floor as the DJ begins playing a slow song for them.

“Well, this is definitely not what I was picturing.”

“There’s still time for them to cover us in pig’s blood,” Archie teases, relaxing into Kevin’s body as they sway gently.

“But they won’t,” Kevin says, pressing a kiss to Archie’s temple.

“But they won’t,” Archie agrees. “Kev?”

“Yeah, Arch?”

“Is this still better than cruising?”

“What do you think?”

The sweet kiss they share on the dance floor says it all.


End file.
